Texas Fans Plead for Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning at QB After Win vs. Kansas State

The No. 7 Texas Longhorns survived a tremendous upset attempt from the No. 23 Kansas State Wildcats en route to a 33-30 overtime home win on Saturday.

Unfortunately, it was not the best of days for Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy, who has started for Quinn Ewers the last two games as the latter recovers from a Grade 2 AC joint sprain in his right shoulder.

Murphy, a 6’5′”, 238-pound redshirt freshman, initially took over for Ewers after he got hurt during a 31-24 win over Houston on Oct. 21. He started Saturday hot by completing 7-of-11 passes for 152 yards and a score, but he finished with just 19-of-37 completed attempts for 248 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Over the final three quarters plus overtime, Murphy went 12-of-26 for 96 yards and two picks, one of which led to a KSU touchdown (and PAT) that cut the UT lead to 27-21 early in the fourth quarter two plays later.

Of course, Murphy has shown great potential, and better days may be ahead. But KSU was able to crawl back in this one due in part to his struggles.

At one point, Texas led 17-0 and found itself out-gaining KSU 303-31. The Longhorns still led 27-7 in the closing seconds of the third quarter as well.

However, KSU quarterback Will Howard led the Wildcats on a furious comeback, throwing for four touchdowns and 327 yards in total. KSU tied the game at 30 on a Chris Tennant 45-yard field goal with no time left in regulation.

Texas eked out the OT win after getting a field goal and a big fourth down stop, but fans and analysts alike believe a change at quarterback is needed next Saturday.

That might happen anyway if Ewers is good to go, per a report from Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports.

If Ewers is unable to go, the team still has superstar freshman recruit Arch Manning waiting in the wings as well.

We’ll see what happens in a week’s time, but fans appear to prefer a quarterback change.

The Longhorns’ next game will be next Saturday at TCU.